Simple things mean a lot. The road can be marvelous, with scenery to die for, and the mount pure heaven. But, if what you ate before hitting the road is now lying in your gut like a 30-pound hunk of rusty lead, mark my words; it’s going to be a bad day. It seems we get ourselves in trouble when we stray so far from the norm, of say; cereal, toast and coffee, to three eggs, hash browns and wheat cakes, lathered in butter. Yeah, that might come back to haunt you after 50 miles of a bumpy side road!

What we try to do is find a motel with a free “continental breakfast,” continental most often meaning not much. These normally are being served by 6 a.m., and allow for a quick start, the food is more like at home, and if you want more, take more. This takes the place of the truck stop meal with a plate the size a pick-up bed liner. Most importantly, this “allows” for the mid-morning donut/bakery stop – always someplace nearby, recommended by a local. You know, the place with all the pick-up trucks and Buicks in front.

Lunch, for us is a Mom & Pop diner, clean with good food, and moderately priced too. If these can’t be found it’s a chain burger place for cheap food and a clean restroom. Supper is near where we are staying, and is a “sit-down” meal with a tablecloth if we’re lucky. Otherwise, it might be pizza and a beer.

Our budget allows for $20 per day for food, which you can do on backroad trips. But not on tourist-road trips. On these plastic & neon byways everything is inflated for mom-pop and four kids in a mini-van tourists. And even if your mini-van is a two wheeled road warrior, you’re still trapped in the same gill net. $20 for all day in these places won’t go as far; so a little careful and creative planning can really pay off! Ride on.

About the author

A Wisconsin farm boy, I learned how to ride a cow, before a horse and way before a motorcycle. I first started riding on my 16th birthday and I took my first real ride at my party: I pulled a wheelie and dug a trench in the lawn, which sent the bike in one direction and me in another. I was irrevocably hooked!